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It may come as no surprise that in today’s competitive job market, many candidates compromise their integrity to land a job. Some have false information or “embellishments” on their resume and some lie during their interviews. In Free Lance Journalist, Katie Navarra’s recent article, “Are Your Candidates Lying to Get the Job?”, she found that “applicants with master’s or doctoral degrees admitted to embellishing or telling untruths in cover letters and job interviews most often (85 percent)…Seventy-one percent of candidates without a college degree said they have lied.” A vast majority of research around this issue concludes that asking behavioral questions during the job interview is the way to go.
Behavioral Questions: The Gateway to Genuine Answers
Behavioral questions are a powerful tool to understand how a candidate reacts in certain situations. These can be crafted to probe a candidate’s behavior in past experiences. For instance:
#1 “Can you share an example of when you had to deal with a difficult colleague or supervisor? How did you manage the situation?”
- This question asks for specific, real-world examples to validate a candidate’s claims. By requesting detailed examples, you can evaluate a candidate’s depth of experience and whether they genuinely possess the communication skills to fit well with the team.
#2 “Have you done remote training before?”
- Working remotely is a type of literacy. It requires integrity, focus, and excellent planning skills. And everyone is not experienced. If the role is hybrid or fully remote, ask about their experience and comfortability with remote training.
#3 “How many absences do you think is appropriate for the first 90 days?”
- Their answer will say a lot more about their work ethic than it will about their ability to do the job.
#4 “Tell me about a time you had to work with limited training or limited instructions”
- The ability to accomplish a task with little instruction is priceless. While in a perfect world, each worker would receive detailed instruction for each task, the call center world moves fast. And the staffing industry moves even faster. A worker with the confidence to take initiative, and foresight to execute well, is essential.
In Conclusion
Use the your interviews to gauge a candidate’s honesty, integrity, and suitability for the role. By diving deep into a recruit’s past experiences with behavioral questions, hiring managers can better discern the most suitable fit for their organization. By leveraging these techniques, recruiters and hiring managers can uncover the truth behind a job seekers’s words and ultimately build stronger, more reliable teams.